User Manual

2.2 GPLv3
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/
>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document,
but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds
of works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to
make sure it remains free software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation,
use the GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any other
work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General
Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies
of free software (and charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get
it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs,
and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you these rights or asking
you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have certain responsibilities if you distribute
copies of the software, or if you modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom of others.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you
must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received. You must make sure
that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms
so they know their rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps:
(1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving you legal
permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it.
For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no
warranty for this free software. For both users' and authors' sake, the GPL requires that
modified versions be marked as changed, so that their problems will not be attributed
erroneously to authors of previous versions.
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified versions of
the software inside them, although the manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally
incompatible with the aim of protecting users' freedom to change the software. The
systematic pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to use,
which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this
version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise
substantially in other domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in
future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not
allow patents to restrict development and use of software on general-purpose computers,
but in those that do, we wish to avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free
program could make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that
patents cannot be used to render the program non-free.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
0. Definitions.
"This License" refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
"Copyright" also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as
semiconductor masks.
"The Program" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each
licensee is addressed as "you". "Licensees" and "recipients" may be individuals or
organizations.
To "modify" a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion
requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact copy. The resulting
work is called a "modified version" of the earlier work or a work "based on" the earlier work.
A "covered work" means either the unmodified Program or a work based on the Program.
To "propagate" a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would make
you directly or secondarily liable for infringement under applicable copyright law, except
executing it on a computer or modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying,
distribution (with or without modification), making available to the public, and in some
countries other activities as well.
To "convey" a work means any kind of propagation that enables other parties to make or
receive copies. Mere interaction with a user through a computer network, with no transfer
of a copy, is not conveying.